Hellgate Prison
Hellgate Prison was one of the seven haunted houses that were featured during Halloween Horror Nights XIV. It was located in Soundstage 20 along with Horror in Wax. History and Location In 2004, Universal decided to have a haunted house similar to the popular Psycho Scareapy house from the previous year. Instead of having insane asylum patients taking over the asylum, it would have prisoners taking over a prison. This was also one of the first haunted houses with an in-depth queue video. The house would be one of two located in Soundstage 20 (the closest soundstage to Islands of Adventure), the other one being Horror in Wax. Soundstage 20 is one of the larger soundstage facilities designed to be used as filming locations for movies and television shows. Afterwards the house had a bit of controversy due to how intense and "raunchy" the house was. However, nowadays the house is praised one of the most intense and frightening houses in the events history. Hellgate Prison would return as the setting for the 2015 haunted house, RUN: Blood, Sweat, and Fears. The house also was the first to feature Old Smokey, an electric chair used many times as a prop in future Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses. Description Warden Robert L. Strickland's monument to himself where paying visitors suddenly find themselves lost and alone inside the penitentiary's cell-blocks, corridors, and secret chambers... alone with a prison population of insane inmates, crazed convicts, and convicted criminals with nothing to lose before they walk the "last mile" to sit on top of Old Smokey, the world's most excruciatingly painful electric chair. Website On the Halloween Horror Nights XIV website in the patient records, it showed a criminal record of a man named Stanley. There was also a radio where if you click on it, it talks about the riot at Hellgate Prison and how the inmates overpowered the guards. It also showed a paper saying how Warden Robert L. Strickland had been attempting to cash in on his role at the prison by charging civilians to come in and take "tours" of the facility; he'd become obsessed with running the prison at maximum efficiency and wanted to display this to the paying public. After ignoring orders to cease and desist his practices by the Federal Bureau of Prisoners, Strickland began creating sales materials in an attempt to coerce the public to come and tour his prison. A breakdown in prison security and operating procedures in October of 1956 lead to an uprising, in which 99 inmates took control of Hellgate and rioted for over 30 days. After this incident, Warden Strickland was stripped of his authority and committed to a state facility for the mentally incapacitated. Experience Haunted House The Hellgate Prison house was housed in Soundstage 20 and featured several rooms and areas common to prisons, including an entrance through a 'visitation room' in which prisoners behind glass held phones and taunted guests, a laundry room, an infirmary, and a furnace room with burned prisoners. This haunted house also featured Old Smokey, the audio-animatronic of a man on an electric chair thrashing as he meets his fate. The house concluded with a run through a fenced off, multi-path "Riot Room" in which guests were commonly separated from their parties and made to go through separate paths of strobe light filled chain link fences with angry, shouting, aggressive prisoners surrounding them on all sides. The house had a soundtrack featuring music from Rob Zombie and was often viewed as controversial due to its somewhat adult content. In front of Hellgate Prison, there is a large screen, which depicts the conditions inside the prison, as well as some interesting comments being made by Warden Robert L. Strickland. Strickland says things like; "You will not speak, unless spoken to by me or one of my guards. Speaking without permission is a punishable offense, attempted escape is a punishable offense, insubordination is a punishable offense, and punishment can range from a little stay in the hole to death by electrocution in the arms of Old Smoky." "Some have said that a week behind the bars of Hellgate Prison is like a decade in hell itself. Well, we try." "Once you're inside Hellgate Prison, you belong to me." "Welcome to my world. And, with respect to electrocutions, he says he will personally pull the switch on everyone of those scum sucking, well deserving maggots, sending flesh charring, man made electricity through their bodies until they are dead. Cruel, unusual, punishment? Maybe, but somebody's got to do it." There is a bright searchlight that shines over the area in front of the prison. You then enter Hellgate Prison. There is glass on both sides of you, and an inmate is behind the glass on each side. The one on the right is huge, with a beard, and the one on the left is small, and has a Mohawk haircut. They bang on the glass and say things like Soap on a rope, don't drop the soap. You then enter a short hallway, where an inmate jumps out at you. Next, you enter a smoky room, where a large, menacing looking inmate is hugging a large, hanging bag. He catches your eye, and follows you, still holding the bag. You then enter a hallway, where inmates have broken out of their cells. An inmate on the left, who is slightly below floor level, squirts you with an air gun. Another inmate, who is walking down the hall towards you, glares at you, and follows you for a while, jumping at you before he leaves you alone. You then enter the medical section of the prison. A bearded inmate is on one of the beds, saying Where's my doctor? He jumps from one bed to the other, muttering crazy things. He distracts you, as an inmate who is hiding behind a curtain on the right side of the room jumps out at you. You then enter the boiler room, where an older inmate with glasses squirts you with strong bursts of air. Next, you enter the back corridors of the prison. You enter an area where one side of the hallway is padded. You hear screaming, and an inmate pops out at you through a small break in the padded wall. Another inmate follows you with an insane grin on his face, causing you to panic. After that, you enter the execution chamber. An inmate is being electrocuted, and his body shakes like crazy, while sparks fly everywhere. If you stop and stare for too long, one of the female guards will yell Move along!. You then enter the furnace room of the prison, where it is hot, steamy, and foggy. A couple of inmates reach out at you, and try to make you a permanent resident of Hellgate Prison. You then see an opening ahead, which is blocked by a burly, menacing prisoner. He forces you to go one way or the other, blocking one of the ways with a snarl on his face. You go through a short area with chain link fence on both sides of you, blinking strobes, and inmates rapping on the fence, yelling stuff like I killed a boy that looked just like you last week, and reaching for you. You then run out of Hellgate Prison, escaping from the riot, with a prisoner running after you. Pictures HPW.png|The website page for Hellgate Prison. Hellgate Prison Man.jpg Hellgate Prison Paper.jpg|A picture of a paper that appeared on the Hellgate Prison website page. Hellgate003.JPG.jpeg|The facade for Hellgate Prison. Hellgate Prison Cell.jpg Hellgate Prison Layout.jpg Category:Original Houses Category:Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Haunted Houses Category:Soundstage 20 Category:Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Category:Halloween Horror Nights XIV